Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak opines that Apple has been arrogant regarding the iPhone 5, during a podcast interview with TechCentral. “Part of me wishes that Apple had not been so … kind of arrogant and feeling, ‘We’re the only ones with the right clue,’ ” Wozniak said, noting that he wishes Apple would have made a wider version of the iPhone 5.

“I think Apple tricked itself and said, ‘Oh, you can reach everything with one thumb’ and I don’t see anybody having any trouble using the larger screens,” Wozniak said. “So you can do everything with one thumb, but Apple said that as a defensive move, because when the other phones came out, they all had larger screens. And now Apple had to get defensive.”

“I see all the modern smartphones, big, big, big, big, big and then there’s the iPhone,” he said. “…You get a feeling you’re getting more with a larger screen.” The interview covers a number of other topics, as well, including Wozniak’s wishes for a more open Apple and thoughts on the ongoing patent wars. [via Macworld UK]

Apple’s entire ad campaign for the screen comes off as unintentional satire (google Kirk Cameron Banana for the first thing the commercials made me think of). I’m with the Woz on this one.

Maybe Apple can hire him to come back and he can do the next “founder” turn around. Get them to take their heads out of their butts and start doing something people are asking for instead of an “improvement” that leaves most people scratching their head.

By Code Monkey on 10.12.12 at 11:32 AM

Woz maybe right to say that there is a market for larger screen smart phones but there is still a larger segment of consumers that want it out to be hand sized and pocket friendly.
Apple could make a version like the Galaxy Note but to do that across the board would be market suicide.
Sorry Woz is wrong on this one.

By Scottrey on 10.12.12 at 12:20 PM

I find myself in the odd position of…partially…disagreeing with Woz on this one. He is right that Apple seems to be on the defensive in their ad campaign. This reeks of “We hear your complaints, but here is why you are wrong.”

On the other hand, I am not a fan of the ever-growing mobile phone. I have the iPhone 5. One of the first things I noticed was that the added length, though minimal, still made it not as comfortable in my front pocket. I decided to test this with a Galaxy S III. It was even a bit more bothersome with the additional width. I can’t fathom the idea of having a Galaxy Note in my pocket all day. I want my phone to be transparent in my pocket. I do not want to feel it’s edges when I sit down in my car. If I want a larger screen, I will use a tablet. Bigger is not necessarily better in all cases.

By Mitch on 10.12.12 at 12:22 PM

I thought I might be in the minority on this one but maybe not. I don’t want a giant phone. I see all of these people who always have their enormous phones, with 42” screens, in their hands, and I guess it’s because they can’t put them in their pockets. It looks like they’re carrying around cafeteria trays.

By Darcy Reava on 10.12.12 at 02:00 PM

Have you seen the size of Woz’s hands? No wonder he doesn’t have any problem with wider screens.

I used a Galaxy Nexus as a semi-primary phone for about six weeks (meaning I carried it around alongside my iPhone 4S and frequently used it instead of the iPhone for everything except phone calls, since it didn’t have my primary phone number attached to it). The screen width was actually one of my biggest complaints with it when the dust settled—I frequently had to play finger gymnastics to get buttons that were in the top-left corner (when holding it in my right hand), and almost dropped it a couple of times trying :)

Arguably that could be construed as a UI design issue in terms of some of the apps themselves—Google frequently avoided some of these issues with its own built-in apps—but since Android has no UI design guidelines at all and most developers are building for at least a dozen different target devices, it’s not something I would reasonably expect most of them to pay attention to.

Regardless, however, this is not an issue I’ve experienced on my iPhone 5 at all, thus supporting Apple’s contention that the screen dimensions fit the experience that many users are looking for in a smartphone.

By Jesse Hollington on 10.12.12 at 03:12 PM

My wife, daughter and I have had the iPhone 5 for three weeks and we feel the size is perfect. A bigger unit would reduce the appeal to us.

By Alan on 10.12.12 at 05:09 PM

Woz seems to have this chronic need to keep his name in the news. First it’s the US Festival, then his Prius accelerating at will, then it’s Segway Polo, then he’s moving to Australia, and now this. He may have helped create Apple many years ago, but is there anyone out there who doesn’t think the guy is a sad and desperate attention-seeker now? Too bad, really.

By WoodWorks on 10.12.12 at 06:11 PM

I agree with woodworks Wozniak hasn’t done anything tech productive in years, every time Apple releases something he c.lamors for attention.
I have an iPhone 5 and any wider would be just plain wrong, if I need bigger
I switch to iPad , this is one case where the idea bigger is not always better is right :)

By Durden5150 on 10.12.12 at 08:35 PM

Woz has morphed into an out of touch buffoon. Go dance for the Starz Mr. Apple Sauce

By lvt on 10.12.12 at 08:56 PM

If Woz would have had his way, there wouldn’t even be an Apple. His great plan was to give the schematics away. What has he done since the late 70s?

By Dick Bacon on 10.13.12 at 12:09 AM

Wozniak is a demented idiot who is trying to score eyeballs by saying sensationalistic negative things about Apple. Let him move away quietly to his nursing home in New Zealand. He’s done - toasted and roasted.

By James Katt on 10.13.12 at 12:22 AM

This is pretty funny - the man who actually had the most responsibility in creating this corporation you fawn over gets derided viciously for stating the truth: Apple is arrogant about the screen size. Classic Ad Hominem silliness - instead of logically refuting his argument as a at least a couple of posters did, most of you resort to name calling and character assassination as though that does anything to change the subject or the validity of his statements.

You do realize that just the Galaxy S3 will top over 30 million unit sales this year - that’s liable to be more units than the iPhone 5 sells in its first year, and if it’s not, it will still be within spitting distance, and that’s just *one* Android phone. The market is clearly in favor of these larger phones and Apple not giving their customers a choice while spending millions of dollars to run ads telling you the great and powerful fruit knows better than the customers and analysts is a text book case of corporate arrogance.

I got my fifth gen touch yesterday with this “amazingly designed screen size”, poppy cock. If this thing were 1/2” wider not a one of you trashing Steve Wozniak would have been thinking, “this thing is too big”, you’d be praising the clarity of the screen and how you could see so much more of a web page at once, how it actually could function more reliably as a on the go eReader, etc..

By Code Monkey on 10.13.12 at 08:53 AM

I for one do not want a phone any bigger than my 4S - Once there’s no longer a choice for a reasonably sized smartphone, I’ll go back to a flip style.

By Randy M on 10.13.12 at 09:25 AM

Woz is correct. They have a family of iPods why don’t they do the same for the iPhone.?

By Darrin on 10.13.12 at 02:29 PM

“Arrogant”? Give me a break. Apple made an intelligent design choice, rather than the sort of absence of choice kitchen sink approach of some of its competitors. The consumer is in great shape. They can approve of Apple’s design choice, or they can not, and buy a different phone. Apple learned back in the 80’s that offering a confusing array of product options did not work. I think one of Apple’s appeals for those who like its products is that they can rely upon Apple to generally make very good choices. (And of course, their competitors and enemies will decry those choices, at least to the extent they are not copying them as quickly as they can.) And the great thing about the competitive marketplace is that one can always buy a different product if you prefer a different choice.

By Flander on 10.14.12 at 01:03 PM

I also have very large hands. I still have the iPhone 4 (not s). I hope to get a 5 and I’m glad it’s not turned into another Galaxy Note - which my son has and loves, BTW. I keep my iPhones, sans case, in my jeans coin pockets. I also wear leather jackets with slim pockets. I have no desire for a phone larger than the current iPhone (4/5).
I in no way though would fault Apple for making more than one model with a larger screen if so many people demand them. I don’t think it’s arrogant at all, I think it might merely be shortsighted. And as a AAPL holder, that should be looked at.

By sb on 10.15.12 at 02:45 PM

I will agree with Code Monkey and sb. Apple could offer a second handset and appease a growing number of people who do want larger screens (even though many, like me, do not). We are likely to see a second iPad form factor in the coming weeks. Apple finally admitted that they need to compete in a smaller tablet market. People wanted something a little more portable than the 10 inch models, thus the popularity of the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire, etc. Well, that and the bargain price on some of these devices…which Apple cannot meet with an iPod already in that price range. I imagine Apple will again bow to customer trends and venture into the larger handsets in the future. It does seem silly to close off an established market (again, see iPad Mini)...

By Mitch on 10.16.12 at 02:37 PM

Code Monkey, no, you’re dead wrong. IPhone 5 will sell far more than 30 million first year. It did 5 million in one weekend…so what are you talking about? And that Android is going bigger yet only two Android manufacturers—Samsung and HTC—are actually making money says what exactly? The only Android manufacturer growing in sales is Samsung. So I hardly think Apple should be spending their time emulating the competition.

By John on 10.17.12 at 01:57 AM

@18: Yes, it will sell more in the whole first year, I meant this year, not the whole first year. Unfortunately, iLounge has no way to edit our comments so my gaffe remains. As for the rest of your blather, whatever. Android is kicking iOS’s butt in the market and it’s because of cost and choice, something Apple is not giving consumers. You simply cannot compete in a market this big with a single model (and keeping the outdated leftovers around as $0/$99 choices doesn’t count). The longer Apple arrogantly sticks to the idea they can put out a single model every two years with a modest change at the midpoint, the more Android will continue to grow. It’s not about “emulating the competition”, it’s about not having your head so far up your bum you ignore what consumers are telling you.

By Code Monkey on 10.17.12 at 12:10 PM

I think that’s a question of different market spaces, however. Clearly there is at least one aspect of Apple that doesn’t feel the need to take over the entire smartphone industry, and let’s face it, that mentality seems to have worked reasonably well for their Mac business, at least over the past ten years or so.

Not only is Apple obviously very profitable without needing a majority market share, but there are other places to make money in this game as well… Clearly Apple has been able to engender a much more robust application developer marketplace (of which it takes 30%); a good portion of the reason for that is the standardization of device models in the iOS , but also the fact that not every “Android” device is a particularly suitable application platform, and not every “Android” user is buying their phone for the purpose of running apps.

Ultimately, I think that Microsoft’s focus on market share has done a disservice to technology consumerism by making too many people believe that “there can be only one.” The strange part is that this is simply not true in just about any other industry… Automobiles, home appliances and even gaming consoles all compete directly against each other, and I rarely hear of somebody suggesting that Panasonic is going to fail because Sony or Samsung are doing something supposedly new or better with their television sets.

By Jesse Hollington on 10.17.12 at 03:08 PM

I find myself in the odd position of…partially…disagreeing with Woz on this one. He is right that Apple seems to be on the defensive in their ad campaign. This reeks of “We hear your complaints, but here is why you are wrong.”

On the other hand, I am not a fan of the ever-growing mobile phone. I have the iPhone 5. One of the first things I noticed was that the added length, though minimal, still made it not as comfortable in my front pocket. I decided to test this with a Galaxy S III. It was even a bit more bothersome with the additional width. I can’t fathom the idea of having a Galaxy Note in my pocket all day. I want my phone to be transparent in my pocket. I do not want to feel it’s edges when I sit down in my car. If I want a larger screen, I will use a tablet. Bigger is not necessarily better in all cases

I agree with this and I have used a Galaxy s3 and its way to big for the pocket!